In the late 1950s, there were as many university student failures
in the U.S. as Europe and more. After much wrangling, the U.S.
federal government gave universities extra money if they included
orientation courses in their curricula.

Orientation is a university course that teaches students how to
study. By 1960 these courses were in as many universities as colleges,
both private and public. They saved students as much as time as
work. They also improved grades by 80%.

In these courses students learned "spaced cramming", speed reading,
etc. Specifically, they learned not to listen to music while studying:
the brain consumes more oxygen (more energy, more effort). They
also learned to put their notes on only one side of the page:
the other side can be used for extra notes. They learned not to
use a pencil. Pencil marks smear or become blurred.
They learned not to study one hour before an exam, since this
is the weakest point of your recall curve.

Actually students began to learn more in the U.S. than Europe
in less time. Of course less failures saved the U.S. federal government
a lot of money and students a lot of headaches.